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And The Bronze Medal Goes To…

With Japan and China all but locks for the mens’ gymnastics team silver and gold, in one way or the other, the real battle was for bronze. The main four teams in contention were USA, Germany, Korea and Russia, all within less than two points for the predictions. The outcome, after the jump…

The bronze medal went to USA, who almost placed in the top two, nearly defeating Japan after their all-around gold from 2004 in Athens. Instead, the USA took the bronze, with both Hamm brothers missing from contention. In a competition where most teams experienced at least one major mishap through the first four rotations, the United State’s consistent performance from a team of first-time Olympians gave them the chance for second. But after some major mishaps on floor exercise and the pommel horse, they barely kept ahead of Germany for third. Here’s the team, along with the home-town ladies we’ll root for tonight. (For more great pics, see here.)

No one could touch China, whose dominance, determination, and dragon-like performance in their home country before a home crowd solidified gold for them. And Japan came back in the end to clinch silver. The real emotion came from David Durante, the one alternate for America who did not compete. Since others are not likely to picture him in blogs, here he is:

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6 thoughts on “And The Bronze Medal Goes To…”

I turned on the TV to watch swimming, which was cool. But I was absolutely *riveted* by gymnastics. Horton and Spring seem like such badasses (I didn’t think I’d ever describe gymnasts as such…), I kind of want to go hang out with them for a day.

I sqee’d when the U.S. was in first place. That lasted like 4 minutes but it was still awesome.

I almost did too, Chitown. The first time they showed him, I could tell he was trying really hard to just be happy for his teammates, and not think about what might have been. So I guess it wasn’t surprising when they cut back to him and the poor guy had lost it. That could not have been an easy night for him.